TURN YOUR SERVICE INTO ACADEMIC CREDIT
Prepare for your future with hands-on leadership experience.
The Minor in Leadership & Service at Mizzou helps you build essential leadership skills, no matter your major. You’ll learn by doing—through real projects, service, and courses designed to help you stand out in your career.
What You’ll Do
What you’ll do:
- Take courses from across campus: Choose leadership electives both inside and outside your major.
- Complete a leadership communication course: Options include Strategic Communication Leadership, Organizational Communication, Business Communication, Team and Organizational Leadership, or Engineering Leadership and Strategic Communication.
- Engage in service: Participate in community projects, internships, or study abroad experiences focused on service.
- Explore community-engaged learning: Any course with an “S” attribute counts.
- Finish with a capstone: Complete an independent study and submit a leadership portfolio reflecting on your experiences.
Program Highlights
- 15–16 credit hours
- Flexible course options
- Experiential learning and high-impact practices
What You’ll Gain
- Communication, teamwork, and problem-solving skills
- Experience working with diverse communities
- The ability to connect your leadership and service experiences to your career goals
Ready to lead?
Contact CEL@Missouri.edu or book an advising appointment with:
Mary Bean
The Minor in Leadership equips undergraduate students with essential leadership skills to supplement their major or career focus. It draws upon the Missouri Method of learning-by-doing, engaging students in experiential learning and high-impact practices to complement classroom learning. Minor-level objectives are aligned with NACE competencies to ensure students gain relevant professional skills and knowledge to prepare them for their future careers. The minor will also help students articulate the value of their leadership education and involvement to differentiate themselves from peers.
The minor is interdivisional, with course representation from every MU academic unit offering undergraduate programs. The structure of the minor requires students to take qualifying leadership elective courses from both inside and outside their declared major or home unit. Students will also complete core courses delivered by the Office of Community Engaged Learning and the Novak Leadership Institute. For units seeking to increase enrollment in selected leadership classes, this minor will provide incentives and opportunities.
Program-Level Learning Outcomes (by Content Area):
Students will take courses from 5 “buckets” of courses to fulfill the minor (providing choice and customization by academic unit and student interests), finishing with a 1 hour “culminating experience” in which they articulate the through line of their leadership and service experience. General program outcomes are grouped under the course categories of the minor, as the types of courses in each category will hit these broadly.
Leadership Communication course (3 hr)
- Employ active listening, persuasion, and influencing skills (NACE Competency: Communication, Bloom’s Level: 3)
- Demonstrate effective verbal, written, visual, and non-verbal communication (NACE Competency: Communication, Bloom’s Level: 3)
Leadership Service Experience (3 hr)
- Collaborate, plan, initiate, manage, complete and evaluate projects (NACE Competency: Leadership, Bloom’s Level: 4)
- Apply creativity and innovation to effectively solve problems (NACE Competency: Critical Thinking, Bloom’s Level: 6)
Leadership Electives (5-6 hr)
- Gather and analyze information from a diverse set of sources and individuals to fully understand a problem (NACE Competency: Critical Thinking, Bloom’s Level: 4)
Community Engaged Learning (3 hr.)
- Seek diverse, cross-cultural interactions and experiences that enhance one’s understanding of different communities and that leads to personal growth (NACE Competency: Inclusion, Bloom’s Level: 2)
- Seek out and leverage diverse resources and feedback from others to inform direction (NACE Competency: Leadership, Bloom’s Level: 4)
Culminating Experience (1 hr.)
- Develop plans and goals and build networks for one’s future career (NACE Competency: Career & Self Development, Bloom’s Level: 3)